


It was a' for our rightful king

by Samsonet



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:12:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samsonet/pseuds/Samsonet
Summary: Leon always gives Chairman Rose what he wants.HERE BE SPOILERS.
Relationships: Rose | Chairman Rose & Dande | Leon
Comments: 16
Kudos: 179





	It was a' for our rightful king

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Robert Burns' poem, "It was a' for our rightful king".

Leon hasn’t been so excited for a match in _forever_.

He had endorsed the kid because they were Hop’s friend, that much was true, but the way they powered through the gym challenge was entirely because of their talent. This kid might actually be able to defeat him. The thought makes his heart race.

For now, though, their main priority is dinner.

Or it would be, if Oleana hadn’t shown up and told him the Chairman wanted to see him.

It’ll be quick, she said.

Fifteen minutes at most, she said.

It takes fifteen minutes just to get through the monorail.

Rose is waiting in the lift. “Thank you for coming, Leon.”

“Anything for the Chairman of the League.” Leon puts on his best fake smile, the one that drives the audience wild. “But I don’t have much time. I’ve gotta meet up with my brother soon…”

Rose dismisses it with a wave of his hand. “You’ll have plenty of time. Now, I have something of utmost importance to discuss with you. Do you remember what we discussed a short while ago, about the Darkest Day?”

Internally, Leon groans. He hoped this would be one of the chairman’s whims, whole-heartedly acted on one day and forgotten the next. But it seems that Rose wants to take this further.

“I remember. But I don’t understand why this is such a big deal. If the crisis won’t come around for a thousand years, what’s the point of doing something so dramatic now? Especially with my championship match tomorrow. After all, don’t we have plenty of time?”

If Rose picks up on the mocking echo, he doesn’t show it. “Unfortunately, we do not. I am moving up the timeline; it will be happening tomorrow. Now, as you know…”

Rose goes back to the start of his plan, something about Wishing Stars and an ancient Pokemon. Leon tunes it out. He’s heard it a hundred times before, and it never makes any more sense. The chairman has a wild idea and is sure he knows What Must Be Done, because he’s the chairman and he’s… rich?

But that could just be Leon’s biases in play. His own background is very humble compared to the chairman’s.

When Leon was ten -- when he was a brand new trainer and the world seemed so friendly and bright -- he was introduced to Rose at a celebration. Rose seemed so friendly and strong and trustworthy. He asked Leon a lot of questions, and Leon answered all of them. He told about his strategies. He told about his journey. He told about his baby brother, only a few years old then. He had never thought about what kind of information was supposed to stay _personal_.

When Leon was twelve, Rose gave him a present for Hop. The Championship kept everyone busy, was the excuse, and shouldn’t your baby brother be rewarded for being so patient about not seeing you for so long?

And that was fine, but then —

“So this is what I need from you,” Rose says. “Your Dynamax band, first. And second, for you to help contain the Pokémon we are going to summon.”

“I — I can help you contain the Pokémon, of course. But my Dynamax band? Chairman, the championship match is tomorrow. I’m going to need it then.”

“_We_ need it _now_,” Rose says.

“To solve something in a thousand years!”

Leon immediately regrets raising his voice. Rose gives him the look, that expression of condescending sadness, the _you couldn’t possibly understand_ look.

“Don’t you remember my calculations? The future is coming more quickly than you think. We…”

He launches into yet another ramble that Leon chooses to ignore.

(How have they been here for hours? It is _so_ not a champion time.)

When Leon was fourteen, there was this gym challenger. She was a cheerful girl from Motostoke, and she had a Pangoro for a partner. For a time, it seemed like they could actually make it to the finals and face him. And that was fine, but then…

But then Rose talked to Leon, alone, and asked him to have a friendly match with this trainer and “discourage her from continuing the challenge.”

“Discourage her.” A phrase that he made clear meant “_break her Pangoro’s fricking legs_.”

Leon refused. He battled the challenger, beat her, gave her some encouragement, and back to Wyndon.

The next day, his mother called him in a panic. Hop had been attacked a wild Garbodor. (“Wild.” What a joke.) Luckily, Chairman Rose had been there at the right time to bring him to the hospital. Who knew what could have happened otherwise?

Hop was awake now and calling for his big brother, their mom had said. She knew being champion meant he was busy, but could Leon come right away?

It was the fastest he and Charizard had ever flown.

There he found Rose sitting by Hop’s bedside, a Gengar waiting for his prey.

“Perhaps you were right,” Rose said. “You do not seem to have the cunning necessary to protect the region. I will not ask you to do something like this again.”

He bent down and kissed Hop on the forehead. Leon’s stomach rolled.

Rose smiled. “In the future, however, I ask that you give my requests some more consideration.”

“Y-yes,” Leon said.

“Thank you. See you later, Champion.” Rose stood to leave. “Oh — I almost forgot. That challenger you battled yesterday? Unfortunately, she will be withdrawing from the competition. It seems her Pangoro was injured soon after her battle with you.”

“I — I see.”

And that was fine.

But now...

It’s been hours since the time he was supposed to meet Hop and Gloria for dinner. The Chairman won’t let him go, and the lift won’t work anyway if Rose doesn’t want it to.

Leon takes out Charizard’s ball, a contingency plan. If all else failed, he could call him and simply fly away. He could.

“I’ll take your request into consideration,” he says, interrupting. “But now I really have to go.”

“Yes. Your meeting with your brother, correct? You have no need to worry. I’ve sent some employees to take him in. They’ll protect him until we’re done here.”

Leon puts the pokeball away.

He wishes Rose would just make the threat explicit: _hand over your Dynamax band and help me, or I’ll hurt your brother._

(Hurt. Not kill. Rose can’t let the champion’s little brother die right before the championship match, right? He hopes.)

But Rose seems to be oblivious to the idea of a threat at all. He repeats himself, over and over, as though Leon will come to his way of thinking if he only hears the logic enough.

He’s tired. He’s hungry. He’s not in the mood for debating Galar’s energy future.

(Did they let Hop have dinner, at least? They better have.)

He’s almost ready to just give Rose the band and come up with an excuse for its absence tomorrow, but then —

The ground shakes.

Somewhere below them, there’s a battle going on.

Leon finds himself hoping it’s Gloria. That maybe she realized something was wrong when neither Hop nor Leon showed up, and she’s coming to rescue them both. He imagines her, a knight in a grey-wool sweater, ascending the tower to rescue the kidnapped princes.

To his surprise, it’s Hop who steps out of the lift.

Gloria is right behind him, but Leon only notices _her_ in an afterthought. There’s his baby brother, safe and sound and not being dragged in by Rose’s henchmen.

Hop is safe. Hop is safe. Hop is safe.

Leon wants to be relieved. But there’s still the Copperajah in the room.

He half-expects Rose to take them all prisoners, to keep them confined to the tower until he brings about his grand plan. If it comes to that, Charizard can take Hop somewhere safe, and then Leon and Gloria can fight their way out. Rose only has power in the shadows, where he can coerce and manipulate. If they can get outside, into the lights, the enchantment will break.

Leon gets ready --

But Rose lets them go. 

He gives some comment about how adults can’t always see eye to eye. Leon snorts. 

(_I was just a kid. I didn’t know any better._)

On the lift down, he pulls Hop in for a hug and doesn’t let go.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [I can find my way home without you (the rightful king remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21646288) by [Samsonet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samsonet/pseuds/Samsonet)


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